A bit disappointed by the newest American Innovation Dollar..."Handball"

It features the first home multi-player game "Handball" which was the earlier version of "Pong".
Available to order on June 15th.

I feel like the coin reflects none of that super early video game vibe. It's so basic it's a bit sad really.
They could've at least put the graphic on a tube tv lol!
And after I was loving their most recent Hubble telescope release...this one could've been so cool!

Handball was released on the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972!




In 1966, Ralph Baer began to investigate how to play games on a television. He and his team developed the “Brown Box,” a prototype for the first multi-player, multi-program video game system. This paved the way for all video game systems that followed. Baer is known today as "The Father of Video Games."

The reverse (tails) design depicts Ralph Baer’s brown box game “Handball” on the right side of the coin. The left side features “NEW HAMPSHIRE” and “PLAYER 1” on an incused background. The inscriptions “IN-HOME VIDEO GAME SYSTEM” and “RALPH BAER” encircle the coin in a text that is meant to pay homage to Baer’s Odyssey game. The additional inscription is "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." The design is also symbolic of an arcade token.

https://catalog.usmint.gov/on/deman...ASTER__INNOVATIONNH_detailsINNOVATIONNH=21GRA

 

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To say it's a bit disappointing is putting it mildly. With all the talent at the US Mint, this is the best they could come up with???

 

I agree actually...this wouldn't be an exciting design if it were an actual video arcade token lol!

 

I am not a fan of the cartoonish designs the mint is now producing. They look like a CAD program monstrosities. I'll take early 20th century designs every day of the week.

 

I love the design! I think it looks neat
Simple and nostalgic.

 

It looks like a token for Skee Ball in Coney Island.

 

I like the design as well . It fits New Hampshire well . Pinging and Ponging across the State for alcohol and Cigarettes at a discount !

 

Funny thing is I actually owned a game system call " Intelevision" that had Pong as a game ! I was born in 1966 .

 

I wish I knew I needed a monitor when I got my TI4. I could never figure out how to make it work and stopped trying. Now I wish I still had the thing.

 

Aparently either my memory is failing again or they didn't consider it a computer. I remember that and the upgrade to 16 just before PONG came out. I think. Even the term monitor was new.

Everything I could find on early home computers came with a monitor.

It may have been an Atari 400 and the upgrade was Atari 800. I still can't find out if they were sold without the monitor.

 

Unlike most, I've enjoyed the series so far. I especially liked the Hubble Telescope, polio vaccine, and the telephone designs. This one is "meh" for me. Could've been more interesting.

 

I get what they’re doing. Pac-Man would’ve been better but the Japanese invented that dude.

 

Some say nostalgic and some say CHEAP. You might as well make them from plastic.

 

I think I will get a graded one for my collection.
I still like it.

 

Okay, there's my laugh for the day!

 

Pretty low bar.

 

Out of the 2021 designs coming up for the American Innovation Dollars... I think North Carolina is my favorite. And not just because that's where my parents live


The designers of the Handball coin above are...
Designer: Christina Hess
Sculptor-Engraver: Eric David Custer

Christina is the designer of the Women's Suffrage coin...

https://lancasteronline.com/feature...cle_c44c79de-7854-11eb-b5f6-df1ff7c64894.html

Eric was the engraver of the Telephone coin...

https://coinweek.com/us-mint-news/u...achusetts-american-innovation-1-coins-oct-29/

 

The New York one has a very eye-pleasing flow and depth to the design. I also like the lettering style better than on any of the other coins in the series so far. Punched rather than raised, if that's the correct terms.

 

To me, it doesn't even look like a coin, but more of a token.
Just a note: I still have the original Pong game . . . and it still works!

 

Incused by raising the die creating the incused lettering.